The UK air force revealed on Thursday that it had intercepted, along with Swedish military planes, two Russian planes that were near Swedish airspace.
In the operation, London mobilized Typhoon-type fighters, while Sweden sent Gripen-type planes, which were deployed for a NATO air surveillance mission in the Baltics.
According to the British Royal Air Force, the Russian plane, an IL20 reconnaissance plane and an Su-27 fighter, did not meet international standards and did not communicate with the relevant authorities.
“However, they remained in international airspace and flew in a professional manner,” the UK air force said, explaining that it was “a routine intercept.”
The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that the flights of Russian military aircraft are carried out in strict accordance with international regulations for the use of airspace, the official Russian news agency TASS reported.
In late May, the Japanese General Staff ordered the deployment of fighter jets after two Russian reconnaissance planes were detected, one in the Pacific Ocean and one over the Sea of Japan.
Two days earlier, Russia said it had deployed a fighter jet to intercept two US bombers over the Baltic Sea, which Moscow said were approaching the Russian border.
Incidents involving Russian planes and planes from NATO countries have multiplied in recent years, even before the start of the conflict in Ukraine.
In mid-May, a similar incident over the Baltic Sea involved a Russian fighter and two French and German military planes.
In early May, it was a Polish border guard plane operating in the Black Sea on behalf of the European external border agency Frontex, which, according to Warsaw, was endangered by an approaching Russian fighter.
A month earlier, Russian warplanes intercepted an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea, which fell into the water after its maneuvers, sparking a moment of heightened tension between Washington and Moscow.
Source: TSF
